ABSTRACT
It is critical for the purposes of philosophical rectification, and in Chinese terms, for the philosophical rectification of names, to draw present attention to the 'Fourth'. The Fourth stands for the act of understanding which incorporates and in some measure even transcends the object of understanding, and is at once the ultimate analysandum and the ultimate objective of the philosopher. The Fourth consists of the union of meaning, and the consciousness or understanding of that meaning that is the knowledge of the Eidos. Whilst Plato was lavishing so much attention on the Fifth, he had bequeathed subsequent philosophers, the Fourth. For Gadamer, the Fourth is not so ultimate. He points out that any act of knowledge is ephemeral and thus knowledge suffers from weaknesses as an instrument. Too much concentration on the Fifth, which, symbolically represent the doctrine of a philosopher, has led students of philosophy to lose sight of the unique joys and the overarching status of the Fourth.
